History of Philosophy

Philosophy of the Modern Age

Philosophy in 19th Century England and France

While Germany was producing grand idealistic philosophical systems, France and England developed entirely different types of philosophy, with new themes, problems, and methods of resolution.

Positivism aimed not to introduce new ideas into philosophy but to purge it of non-scientific judgments. Its founder, Auguste Comte (1798-1857), author of the six-volume Course of Positive Philosophy, believed that knowledge is scientific only when grounded in empirical data. According to Comte, empirical data was the sole source of knowledge. Humanity had previously relied on other forms of knowledge, which Comte categorized into three stages of cognitive evolution: the mythological stage, where people explained phenomena through myths; the metaphysical stage, where philosophical speculation served as the means of explanation; and the positive science stage, where empirical science became the basis for proof. Comte proposed a classification of sciences based on three criteria: from the oldest to the youngest, from the most general to the most specific, and from the most precise to the broadest. According to these criteria, Comte arranged the sciences as follows: mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology. He identified a missing science that would be the youngest, most specific, and most general—namely, the science of society. To fill this gap, he created sociology, with the task of studying society. In sociology, Comte considered the family to be the foundation of society, as it preserves enduring traditions. However, economic progress undermines traditional social institutions, replacing them with cooperatives. The competition among cooperatives requires regulation by two institutions: the state, which governs through legal norms, and the Church, which governs through moral norms. Thus, Comte's main contributions to philosophy and science were:

• The demand for only proven and substantiated statements: if a philosopher or scientist makes a claim, they must provide incontrovertible evidence supporting it; otherwise, their claim is considered fantasy and pseudoscience.
• The establishment of sociology.

The English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was captivated by the theory of evolution. For Darwin, evolution was a principle governing the development of species, hence its domain was biology. For Spencer, however, the law of evolution applied to all existence. Everything evolves, transitioning from chaos to order. Order is a natural outcome of evolution; therefore, if natural processes are left undisturbed, everything will self-organize in the best possible manner. Spencer contributed to the development of sociology and economics. Society represents the highest level of evolution. It can develop and self-organize just like everything else in the world, but this is only possible when no one interferes in these processes. Hence, Spencer advocated for limited state rights and non-interference by the state in society and the economy. If neither the state nor any other institution intervenes in the natural course of events, evolution will manage everything in the best way. Nonetheless, evolution is not arbitrary but a law established by God. Spencer referred to God as "unknowable," believing that humans have no means to know or describe Him. Only religion, through allegories and metaphors, comes close to the concept of God.